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In a January 2 letter, Bishop Daniel E. Flores of the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, chair of the U.S. bishops’ committee on doctrine and coordinates the U.S. bishops’ synod process — said his team is requesting “each diocese hold 2-3 listening sessions regarding the guiding questions” posed by the synod secretariat.
Those two guiding questions were phrased by Bishop Flores and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Synod Team as follows: “Where have I seen or experienced successes — and distresses — within the Church’s structure(s)/organization/leadership/life that encourage or hinder the mission?” and “How can the structures and organization of the Church help all the baptized to respond to the call to proclaim the Gospel and to live as a community of love and mercy in Christ?”
Bishop Flores asked that each diocese summarize responses to those questions in a 3-5 page document and send it to the USCCB by April 8. The diocesan summaries will inform the USCCB’s summary, which is due to the synod secretariat in May.
Bishop Flores noted that in addition to the listening sessions, “we are encouraged to continue ongoing engagement with the People of God in the dynamism of a synodal style.”
To that end, dioceses may also include with their submissions “a two-page testimony of best practices for synodality” they have developed, the bishop explained.
Bishop Flores also wrote that in addition to the diocesan consultations taking place, “the USCCB will be holding additional listening sessions at the national level with a focus on participation, social justice, and vocations.”
Diocesan-level synod leaders “will be invited to participate in a national working group with the permission of the bishop,” he said in his letter.
Launched by Pope Francis in October 2021, the first session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, organized on the theme “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission,” took place Oct. 4-29, 2023, in Rome.
The first session of the synod, also known as the “Synod on Synodality,” was summarized in a 41-page report intended to allow the global church to digest, reflect on and give feedback on its contents ahead of the synod’s final session in Rome next October.
Sources: OSV News and www.synod.va
SYNOD Resource: Keeping the synodal dynamism alive Preserving and reviving the synodal dynamic that has involved the entire People of God over the past
two years is just as important as the work of in-depth study and consultation outlined above. The First
Session indicated as a priority “the enlargement of the number of people involved in the synodal processes,
overcoming the obstacles to participation that have emerged so far” (Synthesis Report, ch. 1, lett. m), also
indicating different modalities and groups of people to which attention should be paid, including the digital
environment.
To this end, the local churches are also invited to go through the entire Synthesis Report and collect
the requests that are most consonant with their situation. On this basis, they will be able to promote the
most appropriate initiatives to involve the whole People of God (formative activities, theological indepth studies, celebrations in synodal style, grassroots consultations, listening to minority populations and
groups living in conditions of poverty and social marginality, spaces in which to address controversial
issues, etc.), using the methods already successfully adopted during the first phase, in particular
Conversation in the Spirit. Religious Congregations, Institutes of Consecrated Life, Lay Associations,
Ecclesial Movements and new Communities are also invited to do the same, contributing to the work of the
Dioceses and Eparchies where they are present. The aim is to keep alive that dynamism of listening and
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dialogue with everyone, especially with those who remain more on the margins of the life of the Church,
which the first phase of the synodal process launched and which has produced significant fruits.
Each local Church that wishes to do so may send to the Episcopal Conference or to the Oriental
Hierarchical Structure to which it belongs a brief testimony of the work carried out and the experiences
lived (maximum two pages), sharing any good practice that it considers significant for the growth of a
missionary synodal dynamism. Episcopal Conferences and Oriental Hierarchical Structures will be
responsible for sending these to the General Secretariat by 15 May 2024.
These contributions will not directly constitute the subject of the Assembly’s discernment during the
Second Session, but will nevertheless be made available to its members. Their purpose is to help compose
a framework in which to situate the work of the Assembly. The sharing of experiences and good practices
may also activate dynamics of encounter and collaboration between the Churches that find themselves
called to address the same points.
3. Those responsible and their tasks The main subjects of the journey between the two Sessions of the Assembly are each and every local Church. In this phase, each Diocesan or Eparchial Bishop has an irreplaceable role in providing stimulus: it is his task to open and accompany this further consultation in his own Diocese or Eparchy, and then validate its outcomes.
In order to conduct and animate this process, it is suggested that the contribution of the members of the Synodal Assembly from each territory be sought, as well as that of the synodal teams set up in the previous phase at the different levels. The Episcopal Conferences and the Oriental Hierarchical Structures are asked to directly engage in the in-depth work at their level, and to play a coordinating role for the local Churches. In particular,
1) With respect to the work of deepening indicated in the guiding question, the Episcopal Conferences and the Oriental Hierarchical Structures are asked:
3. Those responsible and their tasks The main subjects of the journey between the two Sessions of the Assembly are each and every local Church. In this phase, each Diocesan or Eparchial Bishop has an irreplaceable role in providing stimulus: it is his task to open and accompany this further consultation in his own Diocese or Eparchy, and then validate its outcomes.
In order to conduct and animate this process, it is suggested that the contribution of the members of the Synodal Assembly from each territory be sought, as well as that of the synodal teams set up in the previous phase at the different levels. The Episcopal Conferences and the Oriental Hierarchical Structures are asked to directly engage in the in-depth work at their level, and to play a coordinating role for the local Churches. In particular,
1) With respect to the work of deepening indicated in the guiding question, the Episcopal Conferences and the Oriental Hierarchical Structures are asked:
to accompany this process, offering the local Churches indications on the methods and timing of
the consultation;
to also undertake the in-depth study of the guiding question at the level of the groupings of
Churches, according to the methods the Conferences’ and Oriental Hierarchical Structures deem
appropriate;
to prepare a summary of the contributions received or produced and send it to the General Secretariat of the Synod by 15 May.
to prepare a summary of the contributions received or produced and send it to the General Secretariat of the Synod by 15 May.
2) With respect to the commitment to keep the synodal dynamism alive, the Episcopal Conferences
and the Oriental Hierarchical Structures are requested:
to continue to promote initiatives enabling growth as a synodal Church in mission, including
groupings of Churches;
to collect the testimonies and good practices prepared by the Dioceses and Eparchies and send them
all, without summarising them, to the General Secretariat of the Synod, again by 15 May.
Vatican, 11 D
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